Apparatus for impregnating logs



Jan. 9, 1940. H R. MADISON APPARATUS FOR IMPREGNATING LOGS Filed June 9, 193? Zmver flor Harry R. Madison mm Wm Fig.5

Patented JanQQ, 1940 APPARAT S For; IMPREGNATING LOGS Harry RsMadison, Seattle, Wash. Application June 9, 1937}, Serial No. 147,235

'3 Claims. (oral-7'1.)

I 'My invention is concerned with the impregnation of logs byliquids. By logs I -mean not only natural logs, but prepared or semi-prepared timbers, though usually of rounded shape or having atleast'rounded ends. I i

..In so far as the'method is concerned, the impregnation is accomplished by means ofa liqluid supplied under low pressure to the end of a log or to the butted ends of twologs, and may accomplish one. of several purposes, ormore than one such purposeiar instance, coloring of the wood,.or treatment with a preservative; Such impregnation, however, can only be satisfactorily accomplished with green logs, that is to say, logs from trees which have been, recently felled and 'in which. the. sap still-remains. The probable reason for this is that the impregnation-1 occurs through aprocess of osmosisQand by reason of the presence of substances in the impregnating liquid or solution which will react with or be compatiblew'ith the sap. in the cells .fof'the wood. It isv my experience that it can not be ,s'atisfalcg torily accomplished with dry logs, logs from trees that have been Ifelled for. some time; Whileim- H pregnation can be'accomplished and ,is accomplished in dry timbers or logs by high pressure methods, low pressure impregnation can only be accomplished with green .logs; My method is therefore concernedv with the impregnation of green logs in distinction to dry logs.,

, It hasbeen proposed heretoforeto supply, a cap about the end of a single log, and to supply .an impregnating liquid beneath such a cap to travel lengthwise of the log, but by my invention I provide apparatus whereby. two suchjlogs, with their ends butted, can be supplied simultaneously v with the impregnating fluid, so that the impregnation of ,the two logs is accomplished simultament,

neously, thereby saving in time, in handling, and in other ways, and effecting economy offlequi Among the objects of my inventionare to proj vide simple, inexpensive and convenient appara' tus .for enclosing the butted ends of two. logs to form between them a closed chamber forthejreception of impregnating liquid. I

'It is a furtherobject to provide a simple and" easily applied device forv application to the two their diameter and circumferences.

ends of such logs',notwithstanding variations in Austillfurther object is the provision of apparatus. which will securely seal the ends of such an encircling device about each 1og,- ,whichwil automatically Y produce substantially equal seal ing about the two logs,notwithstanding differ- ,tomatically self adjusting to differentdiameters and circumferences of logs, and whichtherefore requires little or no special preparation of the .endsof 'the'logswhich are to be sealed,

Still another object is' to provide a method whereby, two. such logs can be successfully impregnated simultaneously. i

Briefly,"and as previously stated, the method employed is operable only upon green logs. Two

I ences in their diameter, in other words, to produce asealingdeviceof this type which is ausuchlogswhich. do. not differ too greatly in di-j ameter areplaced in substantially abutting relationship, end to end. The butted; ends should be convex throughout, their circumference, and

shouldthere be a groove or flute longitudinally j of such a log it is necessary to reverse the log end for end, if the opposite end is convex, or to eliminate this jflute. This can be doneroughly and quickly witha, draw knife, removing the surface of theilog at either side of such a flute until the bottom thereof mergesinto .a generally con- .vexcircumferencef Ifthe bark'is rough it may be removed or "smoothed down, but with smooth barkeditrees thishis not essential. With the two ends thus prepared, if necessary, to produce an approximately smooth and circular end, a rubber'sleeve-is iitted about the *end of one log, is then fitted, about. the end .of the other log,'and

a non-elastic, flexible band, for instance of canvas, iswrapped' about therubber sleeve, its'ends overlapping somewhat, thus preventing'the rubber from bulging outwardly underinternalpressure. The rubber sleeve and canvas bandconstitute afcollar encircling the butted ends of the two logstojde'fine within it, and between the. ends of the-logs, a'chamber for the reception ofimpregnating liquid, which liquid is introduced by a' suitable nipple'penetrating and holding together .th'elsle eve and bandlf Arrangements are provided forventing the air from this chamber, for if air is permitted to remain'in the chamber it tends to be forced lengthwise of the' logs, and in effect produces air locks. withinthe sap channels of the logs, which air lock portions are therefore ins'ufilcientlyimpregnated or impregnated not at all. QBefore supplying. the impregnating liquid, however, the e'nds'of the collar are encircledwith =a suitable'binder, as a cable, and the cable is drawn taut by means which cause it to complete- 1y, encircle the log" through 360 degrees, and to beequalized in tension about the two logs, notwithstanding differences in their diameters.

Thus sealed the impregnating liquid is admitted into the chamber, and by a process which bein end elevation;

lieved to be one of osmosis the solution travels lengthwise of the sap wood of the log, finally exuding at the opposite end, and by this exudation indicating that the process of treatment has been completed. The pressures used are low, for instance in the neighborhood of ten pounds to the square inch, but even such low pressures, when applied to the ends of a log, produce very considerable forces tending to separate the logs endwise, and Itherefore provide means which span the gap between the logs to hold them together and to resist this tendency to endwise separation.

My invention is shown by way of illustration in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of the butted ends of two logs, showing my device applied thereto in readiness for operation;

Figure 2 is in part an elevation and-in part La section, showing the various, parts of .the apparatus in conditionior operation and Figure .3 is a transverse section. substantially on the line 3-3 of Figure 2, the end of one log being shown Figure 4 is a sectionthrough theelements constituting the collar, shown in relaxed position; and. Figure 5 is an end view of a detail of the mechanism. Two logs A andBaresuitably supported and brought into position where their ends substantially abut. Aspreviously stated, theirabutting ends will usuallyrequire no. preparation, b t if necessary theycan be. prepared as, indicated above, with adraw. knife. Assuming that the ends are substantially circular andthat the bark isnot unduly. rough, there is applied, upon .one such log the rubberfsleeve I, which is ,ofsufliciently thin'ma terialthat it can.be stnetched apw preciably to accommodate logs of difiering diameters. and circumferential extent. 1 ,The sleevem is preferably of rubber, Ora-rubber compoundbut any similar materiahhaving the capability of stretching and adjusting .itself to the, difielQIit sizes of logs, and not affected bytheliquid being used, may be employed. This sleeve.,.-after,being thus slipped over the end..of one, ,log, is. slipped over the end of the other leg, in asimilar fashion. Since pressure isto be exerted. onQtheinside, of the chamber; 0, .thus definedbetweenithei abutting ends of thelogs andwithinthe rubber sleeve, andthe rubber sleeve will tendtov bulgeflunduly under such pressure, it is preferable Q .s l ort it externally, and thismay behdone. bymeans of the flexible but non-elastic band 2,'of.1canvas, orthe like, which. is wrapped aboutthe rubber sleeve, with its ends overlapping .to. Whatever extent is necessary by. the size of .thelogs.

I To hold in place the composite collar thuscon; stituted, a wrap is takenv about the endpf each log within the end of thegcollar bymeans such as a steel cable, and in order thatthe sealing force maybe substantially uniform about the two, legs,

and tomake the. cable self-adjusting .to,,thefdi ferent diameters oftwo butted logs,.-I preferthat the .wrappingbeaccomplished by doubling the cable 3 upon itself,,as indicated at the p'oint ,30, passing one wrap 3l...about the .log A, ,.f or instance, andthe other wrap 32in the same directionabout the other log B. Each. of these wraps encircles its respective log throughfl360f. and

passes beyond thatpoint so that. the ends 33 are spaced by more than 360 from the doubled portion 30. v l These free ends are secured by suitablesecuring means, as for instance, the clamp constituted which permits the cable to run lengthwise in one direction or another to equalize between the wraps 3| and 32. Thus the doubled portion 30 is received upon a sleeve 31 which is freely rotatable upon a rod 4. The'rod 4 is preferably in the form of. an eye-bolt having aneye 40 at one end, receiving the clamping bolt 35, and threaded at 4! at its opposite end, and upon these threads is received a nut 42, bearing against the end of the sleeve 31. A washer 38 is preferably interposed between a flange of the sleeve 31 and the doiibled portion 30 of the cable 3.

,The rod,4, with the parts thus arranged, constitutes a means to separate the clamped ends'33 of the .'.cable and the doubled portion 30, which, as previously stated, are separated by more than 360 about they, ,1ogs,..and by .forcing these two ends of the wraps apart, by threading, the nut 42 outwardly along the rod 3, each wrap 3 Land 32 is drawn tightly about its 10%, and through the entire 360f, The.portions of the cable immediately adjacent the ends of each wrap are drawn into alignment and tangent to the log. The washer 38 should be formed to prevent a sharp bend in the cable and to space its tangentialportion sufficiently below thenut 4 2 to permit thelatter to be turned without'interference. As the cable istightened any excess of tension in onewrap, as 3|, will be compensated for by mitting.the sleeveto turn.about the rod 4, with the resultthat the tension in each' of the wraps is substantially equal, and no excessive stress is applied to either wrap. I

By these or equ valent means each wrap is caused .to draw the flexible collar l, 2 tightly about the entire circumference of each 198, and

drawing the cable around the sleeve 31 or pertogether, and these. are conveniently in the form of dogs} pointedat eachend and of a length to span the gap between the logs and thecol lar encirclingthem, the pointed. ends being driven into the ,two logs before orlafter cinching up on the cable. As many such dog's areemployed as are necessary, these being spaced circumferentially about thelogs.

Thecollar, consistingofthe sleeve land the fabric band 2, is pierced and a nipple 6 is secured and sealed within a suitable aperture throughthe collar, as may be seen in Figure 4,

wherebya tube 60 may. be coupled, this tube leading from a suitable source of impregnating liquid (not shown) under pressure,as for instance undera hydrostatic head sufficient to produce the desired pressure within the chamber C.

. Since. the air should be removed fromthechamber before the process will operate entirely satisfactorily, a second tube lil pierces the collar and is provided with a cap 62, whereby it can serve as an air vent, and can'be closed when all the air has been. expelled from the chamber b y the rising liquid therein,v the vent being placed at about; the highest point in the chamber to prevent entrapment ofair, This vent 6| maybe sealed in the rubber sleeve only, protected by'a flap 63 of canvas, and the band 2 may be slitted,

as indicated at 20, to pass the outer end of the 7 connection 6|, the slit permitting the connection 6| to accommodate itself in position to the stretching of the rubber sleeve l in fitting about logs of different diameters.

In operation the rubber sleeve l is fitted to a given log, another log is brought into butting relation thereto, and the rubber sleeve is fitted about the end of the second log. The band 2 is now wrapped about the rubber sleeve, the sealing cable is secured in place, and the dogs, and the chamber C is securely sealed. Impregnating liquid is permitted to flow in through the nipple filling the chamber and forcing air out ,through the connection 6 I the cap 62 being then removed; When liquid begins to escape from the connection 6| the cap 62 is replaced, and the impreg nating liquid is permitted free access under pressure to the chamber, and passes under this low pressure lengthwise through the two logs simultaneously. When' the liquid exudesfrom the entire area of the sap wood' at the ends of the two logs the operator knows that the process ha been completed.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. Apparatus for simultaneous impregnation of two butted logscomprising a collar adapted to encircle-the butted ends of both logs, to constitute a chamber for the reception of impregnating liquid, means to introduce impregnating liquid within such chamber, a threaded rod extending transversely of the logs, adjacent such chamber, a sleeve rotatable about one end of the v rod, a cable doubled about said sleeve, one end of the cable encircling one log and the associated collar and then extending to the opposite end of the rod, the other end of the cable similarly encircling the other log and the collar, and then extending to the latter end of the rod, means on the rod to clamp the two ends of the cable, and cooperative means to move theclamp and sleeve apart lengthwise of the rod, to separate the doubled back portion of the cable and the clamped ends thereof, to draw the cable tightly and with substantially uniform tension about both logs and the collar, to seal the chamber, said cooperative means including a member secureable in fixed position upon the rod and cooperating with one of the clamp and the sleeve, and

a nut threaded upon the rod and engaging the threaded end, and wherein the clamping means is supported-in the rods eye, the nut, threaded upon the end of the rod opposite such eye, engaging said sleeve, and acting to force apart the sleeve and the clamping-means, by such separation cinching the cable about each log.

HARRY R. MADISON. 

